Irish author Patricia Gibney started out as an avid crime reader, so naturally she ended up writing in the crime genre. But it was a life-changing experience in 2009, the death of her forty-nine-year-old husband, which led to a change of careers and rekindled her love of art and writing. Initially Patricia wrote and illustrated a children's book, but her real ambition was to write a novel. In July 2016, Patricia signed with Bookouture for four DI Lottie Parker crime novels, the first of which, The Missing Ones, has been a USA Today bestseller and a 2018 Irish Book Award Nominee.
In The Missing Ones, Detective Lottie Parker is called in to lead the investigation when a woman’s body is discovered in a cathedral and hours later a young man is found hanging from a tree outside his home. Both bodies have the same distinctive tattoo clumsily inscribed on their legs, and it’s clear the pair are connected, but how?
The trail leads Lottie to St Angela’s, a former children’s home, with a dark connection to her own family history. As Lottie begins to link the current victims to unsolved murders decades old, two teenage boys go missing. She must close in on the killer before they strike again, but in doing so is she putting her own children in terrifying danger? Lottie is about to come face to face with a twisted soul who has a very warped idea of justice.
Patricia stops by In Reference to Murder to take some Author R&R and discuss her writing and researching process:
Writing crime novels is one of the most exciting things I could imagine doing. But I’ve learned over the last few years, that it’s not easy to accomplish. Creating believable characters, threading in sub plots, adding suspense and tension, keeping it moving and maintaining pace, and above all holding the reader on tenterhooks as they wonder what’s going to happen next, are all part and parcel of the crime writer’s task. One would suspect I’d have to plot and plan meticulously to achieve all that. Not so. Unfortunately, I am of the writing family who avoids plotting and planning, whether chapter by chapter or scene by scene. I write organically. I like to surprise myself and therefore I hope I can surprise the reader.
That said, I usually have a general theme and main plot line worming around in my head. I write up character and location profiles. I have a notebook for each book where I scribble down ideas. It is a cliché at this stage but to a certain extent I allow my characters to dictate where they wish to go and that in turn dictates the twists and turns of the story. My characters are real to me, walking around in my shadow for the entire time I’m writing and I follow their lead. Each situation brings a what if or a what next question. I hope this feeds into readers’ minds so they in turn feel the reality of the situations in which the characters find themselves.
I love research but I have to be strict with myself because once I start, it swallows up writing time. It is so easy to get lost burrowing down the various rabbit holes of the internet and forget what I was initially looking for.
The Missing Ones refers to a time in recent Irish history and most of my research was based on online newspaper reports. The tragedy reflects on an awful time which unfortunately was repeated in many countries throughout the world. My novel is fiction, but fact is at times more horrifying. The Murphy Report was commissioned by the Irish Government into clerical abuse in Ireland. I read it after I wrote the Missing Ones, and for that I am glad. The truth is so much more horrific than anything my imagination conjured.
The town of Ragmullin is fictional but I have based it on a real town. I visited buildings and locations and then I fictionalised them. I’ve spent hours walking around old rambling hospitals, abandoned schools and ancient cemeteries, getting a feel for the places, letting the walls and headstones speak to me. If a writer has the opportunity to walk the cracked mosaic tiled corridors with high ceilings and rattling iron radiators, then it makes the job of bringing them alive on the page so much easier.
For the police procedural content, I try not to bamboozle the reader with facts and procedures. If issues need clarification, I have contact with a retired Irish detective who lets me know how far I can stretch the leash. I have his number on speed dial and am grateful to his replies to the most bizarre questions. It is fair to say that police procedures vary drastically from country to country. Therefore, I try not to get bogged down on detail. It also helps the pace of the story and allows it to flow.
One of my first jobs was in my local library and to this day I use library facilities. I believe libraries are special places. Places where, for the most obscure question, I can still find an answer. The act of the librarian looking up the catalogue, often finding the book in their archives, I know is a little old fashioned, but for me flicking through the pages of a book while sitting in a library, beats burrowing down a dark rabbit hole any day! And today’s libraries also have online facilities for research. Best of both worlds.
Learn more about Patricia Gibney and her books via her website, or follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Goodreads. The Missing Ones is available via all major book retailers.
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